Steam-engine indicator.



PATENTED JULY 30, 1907.

G. A. WEBSTER. STEAM ENGINE INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED 0 .21. 1906.

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STEAM ENGINE INDICATOR.

APPLIOATION rman NOV. 2,1. 1906.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. WEBSTER, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO STAR BRASSMANUFACTURING CO., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA-CHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 30, 1907.

Application filed November 21, 1906. Serial No- 344.414.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. WEBSTER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Steam-Engine Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in engine indicators of theoutside spring type.

The novel'featurcs of my invention consist first, in the manner in whichthe piston and pencil mechanism, together with the outside spring, canbe removed from the cylinder so that the latter can be cleaned, second,in the means for adjusting or changing the pencil mechanism in order tobring the pencil to the correct height to coincide with the atmosphericline upon the indica tor card, third, in the means for limiting thedownward movement of the pencil lever, and fourth, in the manner inwhich the spring may be detached from the device without changing theadjustment of the pencil mechanism or the adjustment of the pencil tothe atmospheric line.

The object of the invention is to provide a device of the character setforth possessing the novel features hereinbefore recited, and further Toprovide an engine indicator in which the cylinder is surrounded by steamor gas in the operation of the device, so that the conditions ofexpansion are always the same during the operation of the piston, theconstruction being such that said steam or gas has a ready outlettherefrom.

The obj eet of the invention is still further to provide a device of thecharacter set forth which may be readily changed from right to left, ashereinafter described, and in which the piston spring can be readilyremoved and replaced without deranging any of the adjustments of thedevice as a whole.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts setforth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in theclaims thereof.

Referring to the drawings: Figure l is a front elevation of my improvedengine indicator, broken to more clearly illustrate the same. Fig. 2 isa sectional elevation taken on line 22, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectionalplan taken on line 33, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a sectional plan taken on line44, Fig. 1.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of thedrawings.

In the drawings, 5 is the indicator cylinder consisting of an outerjacket or casing G into which is screwed the inner casing 7 in which thepiston 8 is adapted to reciprocate. An annular space 9 surrounds theinner casing 7 so that the same is kept at substantially the sametemperature during the operation of the device. A sleeve 10 hasscrew-threaded engagement with the interior of the lower end of thecasing 6 and is screwed against an annular rib 11 integral with saidouter casing. The sleeve 10 is conical at its lower end and hasrotatably supported thereon a coupling 12 interior-1y screwthreaded toengage the pipe leading from the engine cylinder. By screwing down uponthe coupling 12 the conical shaped lower end of the sleeve 10 is forcedinto said pipe forming a tight fit. The annular chamher 9 communicatesat its lower end with the interior of the sleeve 10, so that any steamor gas in said annular chamber will flow downwardly therefrom into theinterior of the sleeve 10 and thus into said pipe. The interior of thecylinder 5 communicates with the atmosphere by means of ports 6. Astandard 13 is fastened to the top of the cylinder 5 by a coupling 14which has screw-threaded engagement with the outer casing G of thecylinder 5 and is provided with an inwardly extending rim 15 whichprojects over a flange 16 formed upon the base 17 of said standard 13. Afeather or key 18 projects into a notch 19 formed in the upper edge ofthe cylinder casing 6 in order to prevent the standard fromrotatingrelatively to said cylinder.

The standard 13 consists of the base 17, two arms 20, 20 which extendupwardly from said base, and a top 21 integral with the upper ends ofsaid arms. A screwthreaded sleeve 22 projects through a hole 23 in saidtop, but does not have screw-threaded engagement therewith.- Two nuts 24and 25 have screw-threaded engagement with said sleeve above and belowthe top of said standard, respectively. The sleeve 22 is preferablyprovided with a flange 26 and above this flange 26 projects a stem 27also exteriorly screw-threaded.

A piston-rod 28 is fastened at its lower end to the piston 8 andprojects upwardly therefrom through the cylinder 5, having slidingengagement with the base 17 of the standard 13 and extending stillfarther up wardly said piston rod has sliding engagement with the sleeve22. The piston-rod 28 extends beyond the upper end of the stem 27 andhas a swivel top 29 rotatably supported upon its upper end. The swiveltop 29 is slotted at 29 to receive the upper end of a spring 30 which isbent between its ends and provided with a spherical enlargement or ball31 which rests upon the top of a screw 32, said screw 32 being providedwith a spherical depression in its head to receive said ball. The screw32 rotatably connects the swivel top 29 with the piston rod 28. Thespring 30 is held against the screw 32 by a set-screw 33 which hasscrew-threaded engagement with a cap 34 which, in turn, hasscrewthreaded engagement with the swivel top 29. The cap 34 is locked tosaid swivel top by aset-nut 35 having screw-threaded engagement with theset-screw 33. The central portion of the spring 30 is bent to form thecross-bar 36 which extends across the piston rod in the slot 29 and saidspring is then wound to form a double spring extending downwardly fromthe cross-bar 36 around the piston rod 28, the two lower ends of saidspring being fastened to a collar 37 which has screwthreaded engagementwith the stem 27 upon the upper end of the sleeve 22.

The pencil lever 38 extends through an opening 39 in the piston rod 28and is pivoted at its rear end to a rocker arm 40 which, in turn, ispivoted to ears 41 formed upon the collar 17 which is adapted to rotateupon the base 17. Said rocker-arm is connected by links 42, 42 to abifurcated post 43, which post is rigidly fastened to an car 44 upon thecollar 17 The pencil lever 38 is connected by a link 45 to the upper endof a swivel stud 46. The swivel stud 46 is rotatably supported in andextends downwardly through a sleeve 47 having screw-threaded engagementwith the piston rod 28. The lower end of the stud 46 has a screw 48 fastthereto, the head of said screw being of sufficient diameter to projectacross the lower end of the sleeve 47, thus preventing the stud 46 frombeing withdrawn or from moving longitudinally in said sleeve.

In the practical operation of engine indicators in which the pencilmechanism is of substantially the arrangement and constructionhereinbefore described, it has been found that under certain conditionsthe pencil lever 38 descends to a position where the links 42 lock thelever in its lowermost positionthat is, the lever descends to a pointwhere the pivots of the links form a dead center, so that when theinitial pressure of the steam or gas is imparted to the piston 8, thepencil lever is locked against upward movement and is very frequentlybroken. To overcome this objection and to prevent the lever 38 fromdescending to such a position that the links 42 will lock said leveragainst upward movement, thus causing the breakage hereinbefore referredto, the pencil lever 38 is extended through the slot 43 in the bifucatedpost 43 and the bottom 43 of said slot forms a stop to limit thedownward movement of said pencil lever. By this construction the freedomof movement of the pencil lever in its normal operation is not in anyway interfered with and the extreme downward movement of the pencillever is eliminated, so that the links 42, 42 cannot, in its lowermostposition, lock said pencil lever against upward movement with thedisastrous results hereinb efore set forth.

The drum 49, to which the indicator card is attached, is rotatablysupported upon an arm 50 fast to the outer cylinder casing 6. Thestop-screw 51 is screwed into the ear 44 and bears at its rear endagainst a stop 52 fast to the arm 50. By screwing upon the stop-screw 51in the proper direction, the pencil may be regulated to bear as desiredagainst the drum when the pencil is thrown forward until the stop-screwengages the stop post 52.

When the pencil lever is moved away from the drum 49 by rotating thecollar 17 and the parts supported thereon, together with the pencilmechanism, the distance to which said collar can be rotated is limitedby a stop-screw 53 fast to said standard, against which the screw 54,fast to one of the ears 41, abuts when the parts are in the positionillustrated in Fig. 4. A screw 55 forms a similar stop to limit therotation of the collar 17 and the parts supported thereon when thepencil mechanism is reversed, as hereinafter described, to take a lefthand card.

The operation and manner of adjustment of my im proved engine indicatoris as follows: The steam or gas enters the interior of the cylinder andforces the piston 8 and piston rod 28 upwardly, thus expanding thespring 30 which is constantly acting to force said piston rod and pistondownwardly. As the piston rod is raised the stud 46 and link 45 will beraised, thus moving the pencil arm upwardly to indicate an increase ofpressure in the cylinder, the spring 30 forcing the piston downwardlywhich through the stud 46 and link 45 communicates a downward movementto the pencil lever. To remove the spring 30 the set-nut 35 is loosenedand the cap 34 unscrewed from the upper end of the swivel top 29. Thecollar 37, with the spring 30 fast thereto, is then unscrewed from thestem 27. To adjust the pencil arm until the pencil is in alinement withthe atmospheric line the nuts 24 and 25 are manipulated to raise orlower, as may be desired, the screwthreaded sleeve 22 upon the top ofthe standard 13. This is done, for instance, by loosening the lower nut25 and tightening the upper nut 24, thus causing the screw-threadedsleeve 22 to be raised and the pencil likewise to be raised until it isbrought to the atmospheric line, or the upper nut 24 may be loosened,thus allowing the sleeve 22 to be moved downwardly, together with thepiston-rod 28, by the spring 30 and the pencil point will thus be moveddownwardly until it is brought to the atmospheric line, the sleevefinally being locked in position by tightening the nut 25.

If it is desired to remove the piston from the cylinder in order toclean the same or for whatever purpose it may be desired to separatesaid parts, the coupling 14 is unscrewed from the upper end of thecylinder outer casing 6 whereupon the piston may be removed from thecylinder 5 by withdrawing the same from the inner casing 7, it beingunderstood that the piston rod 28, standard 13, the pencil mechanism andthe spring 30, together with their adjusting and supporting parts, willalso be simultaneously removed from connection with said cylinder.

In the drawings my improved indicator is shown with the parts arrangedto take a right hand card, or as a right hand instrument. If it isdesired to change the same so as to take a left hand card, thus changingthe indicator to a left hand instrument, the drum 49 is removed by astraight upward pull and a stop-screw changed from one hole to anotherin a manner well known to those skilled in this art, said stop-screw notbeing shown in the drawings. The pencil motion is reversed by changingthe metallic pencil point in the pencil lever 38 and by reversing thestop-screw 51 in the ear 44. The collar 17 and the parts supportedthereon are then moved to the opposite side of the post 52 so that thestop-screw 51 will strike against the rear side of the stoppost 52 (Fig.4) instead of on the front side. This brings the pencil upon theopposite side of the drum from that viewed in Fig. 1 and the instrumentis then ready to take a left hand card. The screw 54 will then abutagainst the stop-screw 55 to limit the distance to which the collar 17and the pencil mechanism can be swung away from the stop post 52 anddrum 49.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire by LettersPatent to secure is:

1. In an engine indicator, a cylinder, a standard having a base rigidlyfastened thereto, a piston and piston rod, said piston rod adapted toslide in said base, a pencil mechanism rotatably supported on said base,and means to detachably fasten said standard to said cylinder:

2. In an engine indicator, a cylinder, a standard having a base rigidlyfastened thereto, a piston and piston rod, said piston rod adapted toslide in said base, a pencil mechanism rotatably mounted on said base,and means to clamp said base to said cylinder.

2;. In an engine indicator, a cylinder, a standard having a base rigidlyfastened thereto, a piston and piston rod, said piston rod adapted toslide in said base, a pencil mechanism rotatably mounted on said base,and a coupling sleeve having screw-threaded engagement with said cylinder and constructed to engage said base and clamp the same to saidcylinder.

4. In an engine indicator, a cylinder, a standard having a base rigidlyfastened thereto, a piston and piston rod, said piston rod adapted toslide in said base, a pencil mechanism rotatably mounted on said base,means to lock said base against rotation upon said cylinder, and meansto clamp said base to said cylinder.

5. In an engine indicator, a cylinder, a piston and piston rod, a pencilmechanism operatively connected to said piston rod, a standard uponwhich said pencil mechanism is supported, a screw-threaded sleeveprojecting through the top of said standard and slidable therein, a pairof nuts having screw-threaded engagement with said sleeve above andbelow said top, respectively, and a spring, the lower end thereofsupported on said sleeve, the upper end thereof connected to said pistonrod.

6. In an engine indicator, a cylinder, a piston and piston rod, a pencilmechanism operatively connected to said piston rod, a standard uponwhich said pencil mechanism is supported, a screw-threaded sleeveprojecting through the top of said standard and slidable therein, a pairof nuts having screwthreaded engagement with said sleeve above and belowsaid top, respectively, a collar having screw-threaded engagement withsaid sleeve, and a spring, the lower end of said spring bearing againstsaid collar, the upper end thereof rotatably connected to said pistonrod.

7. In an engine indicator, a cylinder, a piston and pis ton rod, saidpiston rod having a swivel top, a pencil mechanism opcrativoly connectedto said piston rod, a standard upon which said pencil mechanism issupported, a screwthreaded sleeve projecting through the top of saidstandard and slidable therein, a pair of nuts having screwthreadedengagement with said sleeve above and be low said top, respectively, acollar having screw-threaded engagement with said sleeve, and a spring,the lower end of said spring bearing against said collar, the upper endthereof connected to said swivel top.

8. In an engine indicator, a cylinder, :1 piston and pis ton red, apencil mechanism operatively connected to said piston rod, said pencilmechanism comprising in its con struction a pencil lever, a bifurcatedpost located between said piston rod and the free end of said pencillever, and a pair of links pivoted at their opposite ends, respectively.to said bifurcated post and to said pencil lever, said pencil leverprojecting through the slot of said bifurcated post, the bottom 01' saidslot forming a stop to limit the down ward movement of said lever in theoperation of the device.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

GEORGE A. WEBSTER.

Witnesses CHARLES S. GOODING, LOUIS A. .ToNns.

